An Unexpected Hobby
by Cascaper
Summary: When you picture Rumpleteazer, the image includes giggling, mischief, etc...but a book? Whaat? Precisely. Mungo returns from a solo raid and finds something most odd. Please r&r, I'd appreciate it!


Mungojerrie re-entered the tipped-over tall crate that he shared with his sister at a very late- or rather, extremely early- hour. By his new watch, it was close to 2 AM. He let his heavy pillowcase fall to the floor with a thud. It had been a very successful raid, and he was frankly exhausted, not least because he'd had to do everything solo- his twin had declined to go along.

"'Be'ah fings ta do,' she says," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with a paw. "Loike wot?" Giving a yawn, he stumbled into the bedroom half of the crate, separated from the front by a dishrag 'curtain.' "Teazah, ah you awa-"

Mungo's eyes went wide and his breath caught in his throat. "Teazah? Wha'- wha're ya doin'?"

Rumpleteazer was curled up in the far corner beside the floor lamp (once a battery-powered bedside lamp). Pinned under her forepaws was, of all things, an open book. And as her twin brother squinted in disbelief, he could see that her eyes were moving rapidly back and forth over the page on her right. She didn't even seem to have heard his question.

Now that was just rude. "'Ey, Rumple. You liss'nin?" Still no response. "Rumple!" he snapped, raising his voice.

Rumpleteazer jumped and looked up at last. "Oh, hi Mungo. You make out all roight?"

"Wha're ya _doin'?"_ Mungojerrie repeated his previous question, confused beyond all reason.

"Woss i' look loike?" she replied, a slight edge to her voice. "Oi'm readin'."

"Wot?"

"Readin,'" Teazer maintained. "You should troy it sometoime."

For a moment Mungo continued to stare. Then he laughed shortly. "No wiy. You, read? Come on. _Moi_ sistah, readin'?"

"Wha're ya talkin' about?"

"Thass crazy. The Teaze Oi know nevah touched a book."

"Well, whoy not now?" Rumpleteazer was beginning to be seriously annoyed.

"Cause you nevah did befoah!"

"Oh, an' tha' means Oi nevah should, eh? Look, jus' because you can't read doesn' mean Oi shouldn'. Or can't you stand that Oi know 'ow ta do somethin' you don't?"

"Bu'- bu'-" The calico tom was starting to sputter. "Bu' wheah- 'ow would you- 'Eaviside's sakes, Rumple, we'ah thieves, always 'ave been! Whoy in the 'eck-"

"Oh come on Jerrie, there's moah ta life than thievin'. No' tha' thass a bad fing!" Rumple added quickly, seeing him start to scowl. "Bu' seriously, this readin' stuff- iss actually really fun. Loike this one," she continued, nodding to the book in front of her. _"Skulduggery Pleasant. _Iss about this human queenkit who goes on all kin's of adventures with this tom detective. Only 'e's a skele'on. But 'e can talk an' fight an' even do magic. Isn' tha' cool?"

For the first time since the start of the conversation, Jerrie's ears pricked up with interest. "Magic? Like Misto?"

Rumple nodded eagerly. _"Be'ah_ than Misto. 'E throws fireballs and blasts doors off their 'inges-"

"Wouldn' moind bein' able ta do _tha'!" _Mungojerrie exclaimed, impressed. "Wha' else does 'e-" But then he caught himself. Rambling on with his crazy sister about a skeleton detective, when she still hadn't told him something very important. "Siy, Rumple…where'd ya learn this readin' business anywiy?"

She shrugged. "Oh, tha'? Aisy. The kits at Victoria Grove are still learnin', remembah? An' tha' young queen, their sistah, she's alwiys readin' ou' loud to 'em. I jus' curled up so I could see the pige as she read, an' the rest is 'istory."

Mungo frowned a moment, thinking. "S'pose Oi could do tha'?" He tried to picture himself in Rumple's position for a second, then shook his head. "Nah."

"Ah, Mungo, don' be silly. Oi'll teach ya." The calico queen smiled. It wasn't every day she got to teach her brother something, rather than the other way around. She scooted nearer the wall and patted the blanket next to her. "Come on, come look. Oi'll teach ya the wiy Oi were taught."

Her twin hesitated, then came padding over and sat beside her, intent on the pages his sister held open between them. "Wanna start a' the beginnin'?" she asked, flipping back.

"Sure."

Rumpleteazer began to read aloud, as Jerrie yawned and got comfortably curled so as to relax and yet maintain his view of the page. Still, as the paragraphs marched on, his eyelids began to feel a little heavy. Right about the end of chapter two, Teazer felt a weight pressing on her arm, and it turned out to be her brother's head as he was now in a sound sleep. Pulling out a stray thread from the blanket, she put it between the pages as a marker and then carefully pillowed Mungojerrie's head on an extra rag from the corner that served as his bed (when he wasn't falling asleep out of it, that was). Gingerly extracting the blanket he was on, she used it to cover up the calico tom who was now lightly snoring. Then she tiptoed across the room, having turned off the light, and curled up with a grin- on her brother's personal pile of bedding.

"Stealin' a li'l alone toime on someone else's turf…now thass a fun fing." Teazer smiled before drifting into sleep. Through a knothole in one of the boards, the Jellicle Moon shone one tiny branch into the room, the slender silver ray faintly illuminating both brother and sister, in the hopes that they would always remain as close as they now were- joined by not only blood ties but by the fire of sparked imagination.

_A/N: Yeah, I'm totally not promoting the book _Skulduggery Pleasant _in the middle of a CATS fic...huge grin I was taking pictures of myself in Rumpleteazer makeup the other night, and posing with the said book suddenly gave me the idea for this story. _

_I mean, when a person thinks of these characters they imagine mischief, sprightly high-pitched giggling, roguish thievery...but not reading. Right? So it seemed funny to me to picture Mungo's reaction if he found Teazer with a book, and her replies, and voila: this story came to be. I hope you like it- I adore writing this pair and their fantastic accents. Did I do a good job? R&R so I may learn your opinions! Thank you... _


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